so long existed between them. "It is this," continued he: "theprince of Basra, having fallen in love with your daughter fromreport of her great beauty, has just come to Baghdád, unknown tohis father, and intends to demand her of you in marriage. He islodged in my house, and is most anxious that this affair shouldbe arranged by my interposition, which is the more agreeable tome, since it will, I trust, be the means of reconciling ourdifferences." Mouaffac expressed his surprise that the prince ofBasra should think of marrying his daughter, and especially thatthe proposal should come through the kází, of all men. The kázíbegged him to forget their former animosity and consent to theimmediate celebration of the nuptials. While they were thustalking, the prince entered, in a magnificent dress, and was nota little astonished to be presented to Mouaffac by thetreacherous kází as the prince of Basra, who had come as a suitorfor his daughter in marriage. The ex-governor saluted him withevery token of profound respect, and expressed his sense of thehonour of such an alliance: his daughter was unworthy to waitupon the meanest of the prince's slaves. In brief, the marriageis at once celebrated, and the prince duly retires to the bridalchamber with the beauteous daughter of Mouaffac. But in themorning, at an early hour, a servant of the kází knocks at hisdoor, and, on the prince opening it, says that he brings him hisrags of clothes and is required to take back the dress which thekází had lent him yesterday to personate the prince of Basra. Theprince, having donned his tattered garments, said to his wife,"The kází thinks he has married you to a wretched beggar, but Iam no whit inferior in rank to the prince of Basra--I am also aprince, being the only son of the king of Mosel," and thenproceeded to recount all his adventures. When he had concludedhis recital, the lady despatched a servant to procure a suitabledress for the prince, which when he had put on, she said, "I seeit all: the kází no doubt, believes that by this time we are alloverwhelmed with shame and grief. But what must be his feelingswhen he learns that he has been a benefactor to his enemies!Before you disclose to him your real rank, however, we mustcontrive to punish him for his malicious intentions. There is adyer in this town who has a frightfully ugly daughter-- but leavethis affair in my hands."

The lady then dressed herself in plain but becoming apparel, andwent out of the house alone. She proceeded to the court of thekází, who no sooner cast his eyes upon her than he was struckwith her elegant form. He sent an officer to inquire of her whoshe was and what she had come about. She made answer that she wasthe daughter of an artisan in the city. and that she desired tohave some private conversation with the kází. When the officerreported the lady's reply, the kází directed her to be conductedinto a private chamber, where he presently joined her, andgallantly placed his services at her disposal. The lady nowremoved her veil, and asked him whether he saw anything ugly orrepulsive in her features. The kází on seeing her beautiful facewas suddenly plunged in the sea of love, and declared that herforehead was of polished silver, her eyes were sparklingdiamonds, her mouth a ruby casket containing a bracelet ofpearls. Then she displayed her arms, so white and plump, thesight of which threw the kází into ecstasies and almost causedhim to faint. Quoth the lady, "I must tell you, my lord, thatwith all the beauty I possess, my father, a dyer in the city,keeps me secluded, and declares to all who come to ask me inmarriage that I am an ugly, deformed monster, a mere skeleton,lame, and full of diseases." On this the kází burst into a tiradeagainst the brutal father who could thus traduce so much beauty,and vowed that he would make her his wife that same day. Thelady, after expressing her fears that he would not find it easyto gain her father's consent, took her leave and returned home.

The kází lost no time in sending for the dyer, and, aftercomplimenting him upon his reputation for piety, said to him, "Iam informed that behind the curtain of chastity you have adaughter ripe for marriage. Is not this true?" Replied the dyer,"My lord, you have been rightly informed. I have a daughter whois indeed fully ripe for marriage, or she is more than thirtyyears of age, but the poor creature is not fit to be a wife toany man. She is very ugly, lame, leprous, and foolish. In short,she is such a monster that I am obliged to keep her out of allpeople's sight." "Ha!" exclaimed the kází, "you can't impose onme with such a tale. I was prepared for it. But let me tell youthat I myself am ready and willing to marry that same ugly andleprous daughter of yours, with all her defects." When the dyerheard this, he looked the kází full in the face and said, "Mylord, you are welcome to divert yourself by making a jest of mydaughter." No," replied the kází "I am quite in earnest. I demandyour daughter in marriage." The dyer broke into laughter, saying,'By Allah, some one has meant to play you a trick, my lord. Iforewarn you that she is ugly, lame, and leprous." "True,"responded the kází, with a knowing smile; "I know her by thesetokens. I shall take her notwithstanding." The dyer, seeing himdetermined to marry his daughter, and being now convinced that hehad been imposed upon by some ill-wisher, thought to himself, "Imust demand of him a round sum of money which may cause him tocease troubling me any further about my poor daughter." So hesaid to the kází, "My lord, I am ready to obey your command; butI will not part with my daughter unless you pay me beforehand adowry of a thousand sequins." Replied the kází, "Although,methinks, your demand is somewhat exorbitant, yet I will pay youthe money at once." which having done, he ordered the contract tobe drawn up. But when it came to be signed the dyer declared thathe would not sign save in the presence of a hundred men of thelaw. "Thou art very distrustful," said the kází, "but I willcomply in everything, for I am resolved to make sure of thydaughter." So he sent for all the men of law in the city, andwhen they were assembled at the house of the kází, the dyer saidthat he was now willing to sign the contract; "But I declare," headded, "in the presence of these honourable witnesses, that I doso on the condition that if my daughter should not prove to yourliking when you have seen her, and you should determine todivorce her, you shall oblige yourself to give her a thousandsequins of gold in addition to the same amount which I havealready received from you. "Agreed," said the kází, "I obligemyself to it, and call this whole assembly to be witnesses. Artthou now satisfied?" "I am," replied the dyer, who then went hisway, saying that he would at once send him his bride.

As soon as the dyer was gone, the assembly broke up, and the kázíwas left a house. He had been two years married to the daughterof a merchant of Baghdád, whom he had hitherto lived on veryamicable terms. When she heard that he was arranging for a secondmarriage, she came to him in a great rage. "How now," said she,"two hands in one glove! two swords in one scabbard! two wives inone house! Go, fickle man! Since the caresses of a young andfaithful wife cannot secure your constancy, I am ready to yieldmy place to my rival and retire to my own family. Repudiate me--return my dowry--and you shall never see me more." "I am glad youhave thus anticipated me," answered the kází, "for I was somewhatperplexed how to acquaint you of my new marriage." So saying, heopened a coffer and took out a purse of five hundred sequins ofgold, and putting it into her hands, "There, woman," said he,"thy dowry is in that purse: begone, and take with you whatbelongs to you. I divorce thee once; I divorce thee twice, threetimes I divorce thee. And that thy parents may be satisfied thouart divorced from me, I shall give thee a certificate signed bymyself and my nayb." This he did accordingly, and his wife wentto her father's house, with her bill of divorce and her dowry.

The kází then gave orders to furnish an apartment sumptuously forthe reception of his bride. The floor was spread with velvetcarpets, the walls were hung with rich tapestry, and couches ofgold and silver brocade were placed around the room. The bridalchamber was decked with caskets filled with the most exquisiteperfumes. When everything was in readiness, the kází impatientlyexpected the arrival of his bride, and at last was about todespatch a messenger to the dyer's when a porter entered,carrying a wooden chest covered with a piece of green taffeta."What hast thou brought me there, friend?" asked the kází. "Mylord," replied the porter, setting the chest on the floor, "Ibring your bride." The kází opened the chest, and discovered awoman of three feet and a half, defective in every limb andfeature. He was horrified at the sight of this object, andthrowing the covering hastily over it, demanded of the porter,"What wouldst thou have me do with this frightful creature?" "Mylord," said the porter, "this is the daughter of Omar the dyer,who told me that you had espoused her out of pure inclination.""O Allah!" exclaimed the kází, "is it possible to marry such amonster as this?" Just then, the dyer, well knowing that the kázímust be surprised, came in. "Thou wretch," cried the kází, "howcost thou dare to trifle with me? In place of this hideousobject, send hither your other daughter, whose beauty is beyondcomparison; otherwise thou shalt soon know what it is to insultme." Quoth the dyer, "My lord, I swear, by Him who out ofdarkness produced light, that I have no other daughter but this.I told you repeatedly that she was not for your purpose, but youwould not believe my words. Who, then, is to blame?" Upon thisthe kází began to cool, and said so the dyer, "I must tell you,friend Omar, that this morning there came to me a most beautifuldamsel, who pretended that you were her father, and that yourepresented her to everybody as a monster, on purpose to deterall suitors that came to ask her in marriage." "My lord,"answered the dyer, "this beautiful damsel must be an impostor;some one, undoubtedly, owes you a grudge." Then the kází, havingreflected for a few minutes, said to the dyer, "Bid the portercarry thy daughter home again. Keep the thousand sequins of goldwhich I gave thee, but ask no more of me, if thou desirest thatwe should continue friends." The dyer, knowing the implacabledisposition of the kází, thought it advisable to content himselfwith what he had already gained, and the kází, having formallydivorced his hideous bride, sent her away with her father. Theaffair soon got wind in the city and everybody was highlydiverted with the trick practiced on the kází.

It will be observed that in the Arabian story there are twoclever devices: that of the lady who tricks the boastfulmerchant, whose motto was that men's craft is superior to women'scraft, into marrying the ugly daughter of the kází; and that ofthe merchant to get rid of his bad bargain by disgusting the kázíwith the alliance. The scene at the house of the worthy judge--the crowd of low rascals piping, drumming, and capering, andfelicitating themselves on their pretended kinsman the merchant'smarriage--is highly humorous. This does not occur in the Persianstory, because it is the kází, who has been duped into marryingthe dyer's deformed daughter, and she is therefore simply packedoff again to her father's house.

That the tales of the "Thousand and One Days" are not (as issupposed by the writer of an article on the several Englishversions of The Nights in the "Edinburgh Review" for July 1886,p. 167) mere imitations of Galland[FN#596] is most certain, apartfrom the statement in the preface to Petis' French translation,which there is no reason to doubt--see vol. x. of The Nights, p.166, note 1. Sir William Ouseley, in his Travels, vol. ii., p.21, note, states that he brought from Persia a manuscript whichcomprised, inter alia, a portion of the "Hazár ú Yek Rúz," or theThousand and One Days, which agreed with Petis' translation ofthe same stories. In the Persian collection entitled "Shamsa úKuhkuha" occur several of the tales and incidents, for example,the Story of Nasiraddoli King of Mousel, the Merchant of Baghdád,and the Fair Zeinib, while the Story of the King of Thibet andthe Princess of the Naimans has its parallel in the Turkish "KirkVazír," or Forty Vazírs. Again, the Story of Couloufe and theBeautiful Dilara reminds us of that of Haji the Cross-grained inMalcolm's "Sketches of Persia." But of the French translation nota single good word can be said--the Oriental "costume" andphraseology have almost entirely disappeared, and between Petisde la Croix and the author of "Gil Blas"--who is said to have hada hand in the work--the tales have become ludicrouslyFrenchified. The English translation made from the French is, ifpossible, still worse. We there meet with "persons of quality,""persons of fashion," with "seigneurs," and a thousand and oneother inconsistencies and absurdities. A new translation is muchto be desired. The copy of the Persian text made by Petis isprobably in the Paris Library and Ouseley's fragment is doubtlessamong his other Oriental MSS. in the Bodleian. But one shouldsuppose that copies of the "Hazár ú Yek Rúz" may be readilyprocured at Ispahán or Tehrán, and at a very moderate cost, sincethe Persians now-a-days are so poor in general that they areeager to exchange any books they possess for the "circulatingmedium."

NUR AL-DIN AND THE DAMSEL SITT AL-MILAH.--Vol. XII. p. 107.

This is an excellent tale, the incidents occur naturally and thereader's interest in the fortunes of the hero and heroine neverflags. The damsel's sojourn with the old Muezzin--her dispatchinghim daily to the shroff--bears some analogy to part of the taleof Ghanim the Slave of Love (vol. ii. of The Nights), which, bythe way, finds close parallels in the Turkish "Forty Vazírs" (theLady's 18th story in Mr. Gibb's translation), the Persian"Thousand and One Days" (story of Aboulcasem of Basra), and the"Bagh o Bahár" (story of the First Dervish). This tale is, infact, a compound of incidents occurring in a number of differentArabian fictions.

TALE OF KING INS BIN KAYS AND HIS DAUGHTER.--Vol. XII. p. 138.

Here we have another instance of a youth falling in love with theportrait of a pretty girl (see ante, p. 236). The doughty deedsperformed by the young prince against thousands of his foes throwinto the shade the exploits of the Bedouin hero Antar, and thoseof our own famous champions Sir Guy of Warwick and Sir Bevis ofHampton.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

FIRUZ AND HIS WIFE, p. 216.

I find yet another variant of this story in my small MS.collection of Arabian and Persian anecdotes, translated from theFrench (I have not ascertained its source):

They relate that a lord of Basra, while walking one day in hisgarden, saw the wife of his gardener, who was very beautiful andvirtuous. He gave a commission to his gardener which required himto leave his home. He then said to his wife "Go and shut all thedoors." She went out and soon returned, saying, "I have shut allthe doors except one, which I am unable to shut." The lord asked,"And where is that door?" She replied "That which is between youand the respect due to your Maker: there is no way of closingit." When the lord heard these words, he asked the woman'spardon, and became a better and a wiser man.

We have here a unique form of the wide-spread tale of "The Lion'sTrack," which, while it omits the husband's part, yet reflectsthe virtuous wife's rebuke of the enamoured sultan.

THE SINGER AND THE DRUGGIST, p. 219.

If Straparola's version is to be considered as an adaptation ofSer Giovanni's novella-- which I do not think very probable--itmust be allowed to be an improvement on his model. In the Arabianstory the singer is first concealed in a mat, next in the oven,and again in the mat, after which he escapes by clambering overthe parapet of the druggist's roof to that of an adjoining house,and his subsequent adventures seem to be added from a differentstory. In Ser Giovanni's version the lover is first hid beneath aheap of half dried clothes, and next behind the street door, fromwhich he escapes the instant the husband enters, and the latteris treated as a madman by the wife's relatives and theneighbours--an incident which has parallels in other tales ofwomen's craft and its prototype, perhaps, in the story of the manwho compiled a book of the Wiles of Woman, as told in "Syntipas,"the Greek version of the Book of Sindibad. In Straparola thelover--as in the Arabian story--is concealed three times, firstin a basket, then between two boardings, and lastly in a chestcontaining law papers; and the husband induces him to recount hisadventures in presence of the lady's friends, which havingconcluded, the lover declares the story to be wholly fictitious:this is a much more agreeable ending than that of Giovanni'sstory, and, moreover, it bears a close analogy to the latter partof the Persian tale, where the lover exclaims he is right glad tofind it all a dream. Straparola's version has another point ofresemblance in the Persian story--so far as can be judged fromScott's abstract--and also in the Arabian story: the loverdiscovers the lady by chance, and is not advised to seek out someobject of love, as in Giovanni; in the Arabian the singer iscounselled by the druggist to go about and entertain wineparties. Story-comparers have too much cause to be dissatisfiedwith Jonathan Scott's translation of the "Bahár-i- Dánish"--awork avowedly derived from Indian sources--although it is farsuperior to Dow's garbled version. The abstracts of a number ofthe tales which Scott gives in an appendix, while of some use,are generally tantalising: some stories he has altogether omitted"because they are similar to tales already well known"(unfortunately the comparative study of popular fictions washardly begun in his time), while of others bare outlines arefurnished, because he considered them "unfit for generalperusal." But his work, even as it is, has probably never been"generally" read, and he seems to have had somewhat vague notionsof "propriety," to judge by his translations from the Arabic andPersian. A complete English rendering of the "Bahár-i-Dánish"would be welcomed by all interested in the history of fiction.

THE FULLER, HIS WIFE AND THE TROOPER, p. 236.

The trick played on the silly fuller of dressing him up as aTurkish soldier resembles that of the Three Deceitful Women whofound a gold ring in the public bath, as related in the Persianstory-book, "Shamsa ú Kuhkuha:"

When the wife of the superintendent of police was apprised thather turn had come, she revolved and meditated for some time whattrick she was to play off on her lord, and after having come to aconclusion she said one evening to him, "To-morrow I wish that weshould both enjoy ourselves at home without interruptions, and Imean to prepare some cakes." He replied, "Very well, my dear; Ihave also longed for such an occasion." The lady had a servantwho was very obedient and always covered with the mantle ofattachment to her. The next morning she called this youth andsaid to him, "I have long contemplated the hyacinth grove of thysymmetrical stature; and I know that thou travellest constancyand faithfully on the road of compliance with all my wishes, andthat thou seekest to serve me. I have a little business which Iwish thee to do for me." The servant answered, "I shall be happyto comply. Then the lady gave him a thousand diners and said, "Goto the convent which is in our vicinity; give this money to oneof the kalandars there and say to him, 'A prisoner whom the Amírhad surrendered to the police has escaped last night. He closelyresembles thee, and as the superintendent of the police is unableto account to the Amír, he has sent a man to take thee instead ofthe escaped criminal. I have compassion for thee and mean torescue thee. Take this sum of money; give me thy dress; and fleefrom the town; for if thou remainest in it till the morning thouwilt be subjected to torture and wilt lose thy life.'" Theservant acted as he was bid, and brought the garments to hismistress. When it was morning she said to her husband, "I knowyou have long wished to eat sweetmeats, and I shall make someto-day." He answered, "Very well." His wife made all herpreparations and commenced to bake the sweetmeats. He said toher, "Last night a theft was committed in a certain place, and Isat up late to extort confessions; and as I have spent asleepless night, I feel tired and wish to repose a little." Thelady replied, "Very well."

Accordingly the superintendent of the police reclined on thepillow of rest; and when the sweetmeat was ready his wife took alittle and putting an opiate into it she handed it to him,saying, "How long will you sleep? To-day is a day of feasting andpleasure, not of sleep and laziness. Lift up your head and seewhether I have made the sweets according to your taste." Heraised his head, swallowed a piece of the hot cake and lay downagain. The morsel was still in his throat when consciousness leftand a deep sleep overwhelmed him. His wife immediately undressedhim and put on him the garments of the kalandar. The servantshaved his head and made some tattoo marks on his body. When thenight set in the lady called her servant and said, "Hyacinth, bekind enough to take the superintendent on thy back, and carry himto the convent instead of that kalandar, and if he wishes toreturn to the house in the morning, do not let him." The servantobeyed. Towards dawn the superintendent recovered his senses alittle; but as the opiate had made his palate very bitter, hebecame extremely thirsty. He fancied that he was in his ownhouse, and so he exclaimed, "Narcissus, bring water." Thekalandars awoke from sleep, and after hearing several shouts ofthis kind, they concluded that he was under the influence ofbang, and said, "Poor fellow! the narcissus is in the garden;this is the convent of sufferers, and there are green garmentsenough here. Arise and sober thyself, for the morning andharbinger of benefits as well as of the acquisition of thevictuals for subsistence is approaching." When the superintendentheard these words he thought they were a dream, for he had notyet fully recovered his senses. He sat quietly, but was amazed onbeholding the walls and ceiling of the convent: he got up, lookedat the clothes in which he was dressed and at the marks tattooedon his body, and began to doubt whether he was awake or asleep.He washed his face, and perceived that the caravan of hismustachios had likewise departed from the plain of hiscountenance.

In this state of perplexity he went out of the convent andproceeded to his house. There his wife, with her male and femaleservants, was expecting his arrival. He approached the house andplaced his hand on the knocker of the door, but was received byHyacinth, who said, "Kalandar, whom seekest thou?" Thesuperintendent rejoined, "I want to enter the house." Hyacinthcontinued, "Thou hast to-day evidently taken thy morning draughtof bang earlier and more copiously than usual, since thou hastfoolishly mistaken the road to thy convent. Depart! This is not aplace in which vagabond kalandars are harboured. This is thepalace of the superintendent of the police. and if the symurghlooks with incivility from the fastness of the west of Mount Káfat this place, the wings of its impertinence will at once becomesinged." The superintendent said, "What nonsense art thouspeaking? Go out of my way, for I do not relish thy imbecileprattle." But when he wanted to enter, Hyacinth struck him with abludgeon on the shoulder, which the superintendent returned witha box on the ear, and both began to wrestle together. At thatmoment the lady and her maid-servants rushed forth from the rearand assailed him with sticks and stones, shouting, "This kalandarwishes in plain daylight to force his way into the house of thesuperintendent. What a pity that the superintendent is sick, orelse this crime would have to be expiated on the gallows!" In themeantime all the neighbours assembled, and on seeing theshameless kalandar's proceedings they cried, "Look at thatimpudent kalandar who wants forcibly to enter the house of thesuperintendent." Ultimately the crowd amounted to more than fivehundred persons, and the gentleman was put to flight and pursuedby all the little boys, who pelted him with stones till theyexpelled him from the town.

At the distance of three farsangs from the town there was avillage where the superintendent concealed himself in the cornerof a mosque. During the evenings he went from house to house andbegged for food to sustain life, until his mustachios again grewand the tattooed scars gradually began to disappear. Wheneveranyone inquired for the superintendent at his house, he wasinformed by the servants that the gentleman was sick. After onemonth had expired, the grief of separation and the misery of hiscondition had again driven him back to the city. He went to theconvent because fear hindered him from going to the house. Hiswife happened one day to catch a glimpse of him from her window,and perceived him sitting in the same dress with a company ofkalandars. She felt compassion for him, called the servant andsaid, "The superintendent has had enough of this!" She made aloaf of bread and put some opiate into it, and said, "When thekalandars are asleep, you must go and place this loaf under thepillow of the superintendent." The servant obeyed, and when thegentleman awoke in the middle of the night he was surprised tofind the loaf. He fancied that when his companions had during thenight returned from begging, they had placed it there, and so heate some of it. During the same night the servant went there bythe command of the lady, took his master on his back and carriedhim home. When it was morning, the lady took off the kalandar'sclothes from her husband and dressed him in his own garments, andbegan to make sweetmeats as on the former occasion. After sometime he began to move, and his wife exclaimed, "O superintendent,do not sleep so much. I have told you that we shall spend thisday in joy and pleasure, and it was not fair of you to pass thetime in this lazy way. Lift up your head and see what beautifulsweetmeats I have baked for you." When he opened his eyes, andsaw himself dressed in his own clothes and at home, the rosebushof his amazement again brought forth the flowers of astonishment,and he said, "God be praised! What has happened to me?" He satup, and exclaimed, "Wife, things have happened to me which I canscarcely describe." She replied, "From the uneasy motions whichyou have made in your sleep, it appears you must have hadextraordinary dreams." "Dreams, forsooth," said he, "since themoment I lay down I have experienced the most strangeadventures." "Certainly," rejoined the lady, "last night you havebeen eating food disagreeing with your constitution, and to-daythe vapours of it have ascended into your brains, and have causedyou all this distress." The superintendent said, "Yes last nightwe went to a party in the house of Serjeant Bahman, and there wasroasted pillau, of which I ate somewhat more than usual, and thevapour of it has occasioned me all this trouble.''[FN#597]

Strikingly similar to this story is the trick of the first ladyon her husband in the "Fabliau des Trois Dames qui trouverent unAnel." Having made him drunk, she causes his head to be shaved,dresses him in the habit of a monk, and carries him, assisted byher lover, to the entrance of a convent. When he awakes and seeshimself thus transformed he imagines that God by a miraculousexercise of His grace had called him to the monastic life. Hepresents himself before the abbot and requests to be receivedamong the brethren. The lady hastens to the convent inwell-feigned despair, and is exhorted to be resigned and tocongratulate her husband on the saintly vow he has taken. "Many agood man, ' says the poet, "has been betrayed by woman and by herharlotry. This one became a monk in the abbey, where he abode avery long time. Wherefore, I counsel all people who hear thisstory told, that they ought not to trust in their wives, nor intheir households, if they have not first proved that they arefull of virtues. Many a man has been deceived by women and bytheir treachery. This one became monk against right, who wouldnever have been such in his life, if his wife had not deceivedhim.''[FN#598]

The second lady's trick in the fabliau is a very close parallelto the story in The Nights, vol. v. p. 96.[FN#599] She had fordinner on a Friday some salted and smoked eels, which her husbandbade her cook, but there was no fire in the house. Under thepretext of going to have them cooked at a neighbour's fire shegoes out and finds her lover, at whose house she remains a wholeweek. On the following Friday, at the hour of dinner, she entersa neighbour's house and asks leave to cook the eels, saying thather husband is angry with her for having no fire, and that shedid not dare to go back, lest he should take off her head. Assoon as the eels are cooked she carries them piping hot to herown house. The husband asks her where she has been for eightdays, and commences to beat her. She cries for help and theneighbours come in, and amongst them the one at whose fire theeels had been cooked, who swears that the wife had only just lefther house and ridicules the husband for his assertion that shehad been away a whole week. The husband gets into a great rageand is locked up for a madman.

The device of the third lady seems a reflection of the"Elopement," but without the underground tunnel between thehouses of the wife and the lover. The lady proposes to her loverto marry him, and he believes that she is only jesting, seeingthat she is already married, but she assures him that she isquite in earnest, and even undertakes that her husband willconsent. The lover is to come for her husband and take him to thehouse of Dan Eustace, where he has a fair niece, whom the loveris to pretend he wishes to espouse, if he will give her to him.The wife will go thither, and she will have done her businesswith Eustace before they arrive. Her husband cannot but believethat he has left her at home, and she will be so apparelled thathe cannot recognise her. This plan is accordingly carried out.The lover asks the husband for the hand of his niece in marriage,to which he joyously consents, and without knowing it makes apresent of his own wife. "All his life long the lover possessedher, because the husband gave and did not lend her; nor could heever get her back."

Le Grand mentions that this fabliau is told at great length inthe tales of the Sieur d'Ouville, tome iv. p. 255. In the"Facetić Bebelianć," p. 86, three women wager which of them willplay the best trick on her husband. One causes him to believe heis a monk, and he goes and sings mass, the second husbandbelieved himself to be dead, and allows himself to be carried tothat mass on a bier; and the third sings in it quite naked.(There is a very similar story in Campbell's "Popular Tales ofthe West Highlands.") It is also found, says Le Grand, in the"Convivales Sermones," tome i. p. 200, in the "Delices deVerboquet," p. 166; and in the Facetić of Lod. Domenichi, p. 172.In the "Comes pour Rire," p. 197, three women find a diamond, andthe arbiter whom they select promises it, as in the fabliau, toher who concocts the best device for deceiving her husband, buttheir ruses are different.

End of Supplemental Nights Volume 2.

Arabian Nights, Volume 12 Footnotes

[FN#1] Bresi. Edit., vol. xi. pp. 321-99, Nights dccccxxx-xl.

[FN#2] Arab. "Iklím" from the Gr. {Greek}, often used as amongstus (e.g. "other climes") for land.

[FN#3] Bibars whose name is still famous and mostly pronounced"Baybars," the fourth of the Baharite Mamelukes whom I would callthe "Soldans." Originally a slave of Al-Sálih, seventh of theAyyubites, he rose to power by the normal process, murdering hispredecessor, in A. D. 1260; and he pushed his conquests fromSyria to Armenia. In his day "Saint" Louis died before Tunis (A.D. 1270).

[FN#4] There are sundry Sáhils or shore-lands. "Sahil Misr" isthe River-side of Cairo often extended to the whole of LowerEgypt (vol. i. 290): here it means the lowlands of Palestine oncethe abode of the noble Philistines; and lastly the term extendsto the sea-board of Zanzibar, where, however, it is mostly usedin the plur. "Sawáhil"=the Shores.

[FN#5] Arab. "Sammár" (from Samar,=conversatio nocturna),=thestory-teller who in camp or house whiles away the evening hours.

[FN#6] "Flag of the Faith:" Sanjar in old Persian=a Prince, aKing.

[FN#7] "Aider of the Faith."

[FN#8] These policemen's tales present a curious contrast withthe detective stories of M. Gaboriau and his host of imitators.In the East the police, like the old Bow Street runners, were andare still recruited principally amongst the criminal classes onthe principle of "Set a thief," &c. We have seen that theBarmecide Wazirs of Baghdad "anticipated Fourier's doctrine ofthe passionel treatment of lawless inclinations," and employed assubordinate officers, under the Wali or Prefect of Police,accomplished villains like Ahmad al-Danaf (vol. iv. 75), HasanShuuman and Mercury Ali (ibid.) and even women (Dalilah theCrafty) to coerce and checkmate their former comrades. Moreover agird at the police is always acceptable, not only to acoffee-house audience, but even to a more educated crowd; witnessthe treatment of the "Charley" and the "Bobby" in our trulyEnglish pantomimes.

[FN#9] i.e. the Chief of Police, as the sequel shows.

[FN#10] About Ł4.

[FN#11] i.e. of the worlds visible and invisible.

[FN#12] Arab. "Mukaddam:" see vol. iv, 42.

[FN#13] "Faithful of Command;" it may be a title as well as a P.N. For "Al-Amín," see vol. iv. 261.

[FN#14] i. e. "What have I to do with, etc.?" or "How great isthe difference between me and her." The phrase is still popularin Egypt and Syria; and the interrogative form only intensifiesit. The student of Egyptian should always try to answer aquestion by a question. His labours have been greatly facilitatedby the conscientious work of my late friend Spitta Bey. I triedhard to persuade the late Rogers Bey, whose knowledge of Egyptianand Syrian (as opposed to Arabic) was considerable, that a simplegrammar of Egyptian was much wanted; he promised to undertake it)but death cut short the design.

[FN#15] Arab. "Nawwáb," plur. of Náib (lit. deputies,lieutenants)=a Nabob. Till the unhappy English occupation ofEgypt, the grand old Kil'ah (Citadel) contained the palace of thePasha and the lodgings and offices of the various officials.Foreign rulers, if they are wise, should convert it into a fortwith batteries commanding the town, like that of Hyderabad, inSind.

[FN#16] For this famous and time-honoured building, see vol. i.269.

[FN#17] Arab. "Tamkín," gravity, assurance.

[FN#18] Arab. " Iyál-hu" lit. his family, a decorouscircumlocution for his wives and concubines.

[FN#19] Arab. "Darb," lit. a road; here a large thoroughfare.

[FN#20] When Mohammed Ali Pasha (the "Great") began to rule, hefound Cairo "stifled" with filth, and gave orders that eachhouseholder, under pain of confiscation, should keep the streetbefore his house perfectly clean. This was done after someexamples had been made and the result was that since that timeCairo never knew the plague. I am writing at Tangier where aMohammed Ali is much wanted.

[FN#21] i.e. Allah forfend!

[FN#22] Arab. "Mustauda'"=a strong place where goods aredeposited and left in charge.

[FN#23] Because, if she came to grief, the people of the street,and especially those of the adjoining houses would get intotrouble. Hence in Moslem cities, like Damascus and Fez, the Hárátor quarters are closed at night with strong wooden doors, and theguards will not open them except by means of a silver key.Mohammed Ali abolished this inconvenience, but fined andimprisoned all night-walkers who carried no lanterns. SeePilgrimage, vol. i. 173,

[FN#24] As Kazi of the quarter he was ex-officio guardian of theorphans and their property, and liable to severe punishment(unless he could pay for the luxury) in case of fraud or neglect.

[FN#25] Altogether six thousand dinars=Ł3000. This sentence isborrowed from the sequel and necessary to make the sense clear.

[FN#26] i.e. "I am going at once to complain of thee before theking unless thou give me due satisfaction by restoring the moneyand finding the thief."

[FN#27] The Practice (of the Prophet) and the Holy Law (Koranic):see vols. v. 36, 167 and i. 169.

[FN#34] i.e. we both make different statements equally credible,but without proof, and the case will go against me, because thouart the greater man.

[FN#35] Arab. "Irtiyád"=seeking a place where to stale, soft andsloping, so that the urine spray may not defile the dress. Allthis in one word!

[FN#36] Arab. "Bahár," the red buphthalmus sylvester often usedfor such comparisons. In Algeria it is called 'Aráwah: see theJardin Parfumé, p. 245, note 144.

[FN#37] i.e. parties.

[FN#38] i.e. amongst men.

[FN#39] Almost as neat as "oú sont les neiges d'autan?"

[FN#40] Arab. "Ádí," one transgressing, an enemy, a scoundrel.

[FN#41] It was probably stuck in the ground like an amphora.

[FN#42] i.e. hush up the matter.

[FN#43] In Egypt; the former being the Eastern of the SevenProvinces extending to the Pelusium branch, and the latter to theCanobic. The "Barári" or deserts, i.e. grounds not watered by theNile, lie scattered between the two and both are bounded South bythe Kalúbíyah Province and Middle Egypt.

[FN#44] i.e. a man ready of wit and immediate of action, asopposed to his name Al-Atwash -- one notable for levity of mind.

[FN#45] The negative is emphatic, "I certainly saw a Jew," etc.

[FN#46] The "Irish bull" is in the text; justified by--

They hand-in-hand, with wand'ring steps and slow Through Eden took their solitary way,

[FN#47] As we should say, "There are good pickings to be had outof this job." Even in the last generation a Jew or a Christianintriguing with an Egyptian or Syrian Moslemah would be offeredthe choice of death or Al-Islam. The Wali dared not break openthe door because he was not sure of his game.

[FN#48] The Jew rose seemingly to fetch his valuables and ranaway, thus leaving the Wali no proof that he had been there inMoslem law which demands ocular testimony, rejects circumstantialevidence and ignores such partial witnesses as the policeman whoaccompanied his Chief. This I have before explained.

[FN#58] These unfortunates in hot climates enjoy nothing so muchas throwing off the clothes which burn their feverish skins: seePilgrimage iii. 385. Hence the boys of Eastern cities, who areperfect imps and flibbertigibbets, always raise the cry "Majnún"when they see a man naked whose sanctity does not account for hisnudity.

[FN#59] Arab. "Daur al-Ká'ah"=the round opening made in theceiling for light and ventilation.

[FN#60] Arab. "La-nakhsifanna" with the emphatic terminationcalled by grammarians "Nún al-taakid"--the N of injunction. Hereit is the reduplicated form, the Nun al-Sakílah or heavy N. Theaddition of Lá (not) e.g. "Lá yazrabanna"=let him certainly notstrike answers to the intensive or corroborative negative of theGreek effected by two negations or even more. In Arabic as inLatin and English two negatives make an affirmative.

[FN#61] Parturition and death in warm climates, especially thedamp-hot like Egypt are easy compared with both processes in thetemperates of Europe. This is noticed by every traveller. Henceprobably Easterns have never studied the artificial Euthanasiawhich is now appearing in literature. See p. 143 "My Path toAtheism," by Annie Besant, London: Freethought PublishingCompany, 28, Stonecutter Street, E. C., 1877, based upon theUtopia of the highly religious Thomas Moore. Also "Essay onEuthanasia," by P. D. Williams, Jun., and Mr. Tollemache in the"Nineteenth Century."

[FN#62] i.e. he whose turn it is to sit on the bench outside thepolice office in readiness for emergencies.

[FN#63] Arab. "'Udúl" (plur. of 'Ádil), gen. men of good repute,qualified as witnesses in the law court, see vol. iv. 271. It isalso used (as below) for the Kazi's Assessors.

[FN#64] About Ł80.

[FN#65] Arab. "Kitáb"=book, written bond. This officiousness ofthe neighbours is thoroughly justified by Moslem custom; and thesame scene would take place in this our day. Like the Hindú's,but in a minor degree, the Moslem's neighbours form a volunteerpolice which oversees his every action. In the case of the Hindúthis is required by the exigencies of caste, an admirableinstitution much bedevilled by ignorant Mlenchbas, and if"dynamiting" become the fashion in England, as it threatens tobecome, we shall be obliged to establish "Vigilance Committees"which will be as inquisitorial as caste

[FN#68] The last clause is supplied by Mr. Payne to stop a gap inthe broken text.

[FN#69] The text idiotically says "To the King."

[FN#70] In the text "Nahnu"=we, for I, a common vulgarism inEgypt and Syria.

[FN#71] This clause has required extensive trimming; the textmaking the Notary write out the contract (which was alreadywritten) in the woman's house.

[FN#72] Arab. "Husn tadbír"=lit. "beauty of his contrivance."Husn, like pulcher, beau and bello, is applied to moralintellectual qualities as well as to physical and material. Hencethe {Greek} or old gentleman which in Romaic becomes Calogero, amonk.

[FN#73] i.e. that some one told me the following tale.

[FN#74] Arab. "Mutawallí": see vol. i. 259.

[FN#75] i.e. his Moslem neighbours.

[FN#76] In the text is a fearful confusion of genders.

[FN#77] Her object was to sue him for the loss of the pledge andto demand fabulous damages.

[FN#78] Arab. "Ya'tamidúna hudá-hum"=purpose the right direction,a skit at the devotees of her age and sex; and an impudentcomment upon the Prefect's address "O she-devil!"

[FN#79] The trick has often been played in modern times at fairs,shows, etc. Witness the old joe Miller of the "Moving Multitude."

[FN#80] Apparently meaning the forbidden pleasures of wine andwassail, loose talk and tales of women's wiles, a favouritesubject with the lewder sort of Moslem.

[FN#81] i.e. women's tricks.

[FN#82] The "Turkoman" in the text first comes in afterwards.

[FN#83] Arab. "Kásid," the old Anglo-lndian "Cossid"; see vol.vii. 340.

[FN#84] Being a merchant he wore dagger and sword, a safepractice as it deters attack and far better than carrying hiddenweapons, derringers and revolvers which, originating in theUnited States, have now been adopted by the most civilisednations in Europe.

[FN#88] Arab. "Saff Kamaríyát min al-Zujáj." The Kamaríyah isderived by Lane (Introd. M.E.) from Kamar=moon; by Baron VonHammer from Khumárawayh, second of the Banu-Tulún dynasty, at theend of the ixth century A.D., when stained glass was introducedinto Egypt. N.B.--It must date from many centuries before. TheKamariyah are coloured glass windows about 2 feet high by 18inches wide, placed in a row along the upper part of theMashrabíyah or projecting lattice-window, and are formed of smallpanes of brightly-stained glass set in rims of gypsum-plaster,the whole framed in wood. Here the allusion is to the "Mamrak" ordome-shaped skylight crowning the room. See vol. viii. 156.

[FN#89] i.e. easily arrested them.

[FN#90] The reader will not forget the half-penitent Captain ofBandits in Gil Blas.

[FN#91] Arab. "Abtál"=champions, athletes, etc., plur. of Batal,a brave: so Batalat=a virago. As the root Batala=it was vain, theform "Battál" may mean either a hero or a bad lot: see vol. viii.335; x. 72,73.

[FN#92] Arab. "Fityán;" plur. of Fatŕ; see vol. i, 67.

[FN#93] This was in popular parlance "adding insult to injury:"the blackening their faces was a promise of Hell-fire.

[FN#94] Arab. "Shayyan li 'lláh!" lit.=(Give me some) Thing for(the love of) Allah. The answer in Egypt. is "Allahya'tík:"=Allah will give it thee (not I), or, "Yaftah 'Allah,"=Allah open (to thee the door of subsistence): in Marocco "Sir fíhálik" (pron. Sirf hák)= Go about thy business. In all citiesthere is a formula which suffices the asker; but the Ghashím(Johny Raw) who ignores it, is pestered only the more by hisprotestations that "he left his purse at home," etc.

[FN#95] i.e. engaged her for a revel and paid her in advance.

[FN#96] Arab. "Rasílah"=a (she) partner, to accompany her on thelute.

[FN#97] Suggesting that they are all thieves who had undergonelegal mutilation.

[FN#101] I have repeatedly noticed that singing and all musicare, in religious parlance, "Makruh," blameable though notactually damnable; and that the first step after "gettingreligion" is to forswear them.

[FN#102] i.e. to find the thief or make good the loss.

[FN#103] i.e. the claimants.

[FN#104] Arab. "Sakiyah:" see vol. i. 123.

[FN#105] The lower orders of Egypt and Syria are addicted to thisbear-like attack; so the negroes imitate fighting-rams by buttingwith their stony heads. Let me remark that when Herodotus (iii.12), after Psammenitus' battle of Pelusium in B.C. 524, made theremark that the Egyptian crania were hardened by shaving andinsolation and the Persians were softened by wearing head-cloths,he tripped in his anthropology. The Iranian skull is naturallythin compared with that of the negroid Egyptian and the negro.

[FN#109] i.e. a native of the Hauran, Job's country east ofDamascus, now a luxuriant waste, haunted only by the plunderingBadawin and the Druzes of the hills, who are no better; but itsstretches of ruins and league-long swathes of stone over whichthe vine was trained, show what it has been and what it will beagain when the incubus of Turkish mis-rule shall be removed fromit. Herr Schuhmacher has lately noted in the Hauran sundry Arabtraditions of Job; the village Nawá, where he lived; the Hammam'Ayyub, where he washed his leprous skin; the Dayr Ayyub, amonastery said to date from the third century; and the MakanAyyub at Al-Markáz, where the semi-mythical patriarch and hiswife are buried. The "Rock of Job", covered by a mosque, is abasaltic monolith 7 feet high by 4, and is probably connectedwith the solar worship of the old Phśnicians.

[FN#110] This habit "torquere mero," was a favourite with themedićval Arabs. Its effect varies greatly with men's characters,making some open-hearted and communicative, and others morecunning and secretive than in the normal state. So far it is anexcellent detection of disposition, and many a man passes offwell when sober who has shown himself in liquor a rank snob.Among the lower orders it provokes what the Persians callBad-mastí (le vin méchant) see Pilgrimage iii. 385.

[FN#111] This mystery is not unfamiliar to the modern"spiritualist;" and all Eastern tongues have a special term forthe mysterious Voice. See vol. i. 142.

[FN#112] Arab. "Alaykum:" addressed to a single person. This isgenerally explained by the "Salam" reaching the ears of InvisibleControls, and even the Apostle. We find the words cruellydistorted in the Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile (partlytranslated by John E. Taylor, London: Bogue, 1848), "The Prince,coming up to the old woman heard an hundred Licasalemme," p. 383.

[FN#118] Gen. "tip-cat" (vol. ii. 314.) Here it would mean a rudeform of tables or backgammon, in which the players who throwcertain numbers are dubbed Sultan and Wazir, and demeanthemselves accordingly. A favourite bit of fun with Cairene boysof a past generation was to "make a Pasha;" and for thisproceeding, see Pilgrimage, vol. i. 119.

[FN#119] In Marocco there is great difficulty about finding anexecutioner who becomes obnoxious to the Thár, vendetta orblood-revenge. For salting the criminal's head, however, thesoldiers seize upon the nearest Jew and compel him to clean outthe brain and to prepare it for what is often a long journey.Hence, according to some, the local name of the Ghetto,Al-Malláh,=the salting-ground.

[FN#120] Mr. Payne suspects that "laban," milk, esp. artificiallysoured (see vol. vi, 201), is a clerical error for "jubn"=cheese.This may be; but I follow the text as the exaggeration is greater

[FN#121] i.e. in relinquishing his blood-wite for his brother.

[FN#122] The Story-teller, probably to relieve the monotony ofthe Constables' histories, here returns to the original cadre. Wemust not forget that in the Bresl. Edit. the Nights are runningon, and that the charming queen is relating the adventure ofAl-Malik al-Zahir.

[FN#123] Arab. "Za'amu"=they opine, they declare, a favouriteterm with the Bresl. Edit.

[FN#124] Arab. "Zirtah" the coarsest of terms for what the Frenchnuns prettily termed un sonnet; I find ung sonnet also in Nov.ii. of the Cent nouvelles Nouvelles. Captain Lockett (p. 32)quotes Strepsiades in The Clouds {Greek} "because he cannotexpress the bathos of the original (in the Tale of Ja'afar andthe old Badawi) without descending to the oracular language ofGiacoma Rodogina, the engastrymythian prophetess." But Sterne wasby no means so squeamish. The literature of this subject isextensive, beginning with "Peteriana, ou l'art de peter," whichdistinguishes 62 different tones. After dining with a late frienden garcon we went into his sitting-room and found on the table 13books and booklets upon the Crepitus Ventris, and there was someastonishment as not a few of the party had never seen one.

[FN#125] This tale is a replica of the Cranes of Ibycus. This wasa Rhegium man who when returning to Corinth, his home, was setupon by robbers and slain. He cast his dying eyes heavenwards andseeing a flight of cranes called upon them to avenge him and thisthey did by flying over the theatre of Corinth on a day when themurderers were present and one cried out, "Behold the avengers ofIbycus!" Whereupon they were taken and put to death. So saysPaulus Hieronymus, and the affecting old tale has newly been sungin charming verse by Mr. Justin H. McCarthy ("Serapion." London:Chatto and Windus).

[FN#126] This scene is perfectly true to Badawi life; see myPilgrimage iii. 68.

[FN#127] Arab. "Durráj": so it is rendered in the Frenchtranslation of Al-Masudi, vii. 347.

[FN#128] A fair friend found the idea of Destiny in The Nightsbecome almost a night-mare. Yet here we suddenly alight upon thetrue Johnsonian idea that conduct makes fate. Both extremes areas usual false. When one man fights a dozen battles unwounded andanother falls at the first shot we cannot but acknowledge thepresence of that mysterious "luck" whose laws, now utterlyunknown to us, may become familiar with the ages. I may note thatthe idea of an appointed hour beyond which life may not beprolonged, is as old as Homer (Il. ??? 487).

The reader has been told (vol. vii. 135) that "Kazá" is Fate in ageneral sense, the universal and eternal Decree of Allah, while"Kadar" is its special and particular application to man's lot,that is Allah's will in bringing forth events at a certain timeand place. But the former is popularly held to be of twocategories, one Kazá al-Muham which admits of modification andKazá al-Muhkam, absolute and unchangeable, the doctrine ofirresistible predestination preached with so much energy by St.Paul (Romans ix. 15-24), and all the world over men act upon theformer while theoretically holding to the latter. Hence "ChineseGordon," whose loss to England is greater than even his friendssuppose, wrote "It is a delightful thing to be a fatalist,"meaning that the Divine direction and pre-ordination of allthings saved him so much trouble of forethought and afterthought.In this tenet he was not only a Calvinist but also a Moslem whosecontradictory ideas of Fate and Freewill (with responsibility)are not only beyond Reason but are contrary to Reason; andalthough we may admit the argumentum ad verecundiam, suggestingthat there are things above (or below) human intelligence, we arenot bound so to do in the case of things which are opposed to thecommon sense of mankind. Practically, however, the Moslemattitude is to be loud in confessing belief of "Fate and Fortune"before an event happens and after it wisely to console himselfwith the conviction that in no way could he have escaped theoccurrence. And the belief that this destiny was in the hands ofAllah gives him a certain dignity especially in the presence ofdisease and death which is wanting in his rival religionist theChristian. At the same time the fanciful picture of the Turksitting stolidly under a shower of bullets because Fate will notfind him out unless it be so written is a freak i.e. fancy rarelyfound in real life.

There are four great points of dispute amongst the schoolmen inAl-Islam; (1) the Unity and Attributes of Allah, (2) His promisesand threats, (3) historical as the office of Imám and (4)Predestination and the justice thereof. On the latter subjectopinions range over the whole cycle of possibilities. Forinstance, the Mu'tazilites, whom the learned Weil makes theProtestants and Rationalists of Al-Islam, contend that the wordof Allah was created in subjecto, ergo, an accident and liable toperish, and one of their school, the Kádiriyah (=having power)denies the existence of Fate and contends that Allah did notcreate evil but left man an absolutely free agent. On the otherhand, the Jabarlyah (or Mujabbar=the compelled) is an absoluteFatalist who believes in the omnipotence of Destiny and deemsthat all wisdom consists in conforming with its decrees.Al-Mas'udi (chaps. cxxvii.) illustrates this by the saying of aMoslem philosopher that chess was the invention of a Mu'tazil,while Nard (backgammon with dice) was that of a Mujabbar provingthat play can do nothing against Destiny. Between the two are theAshariyah; trimmers whose standpoint is hard to define; theywould say, "Allah creates the power by which man acts, but manwills the action," and care not to answer the query, "Who createdthe will ?" (See Pocock, Sale and the Dabistan ii. 352.) ThusSa'adi says in the Gulistan (iii. 2), "The wise have pronouncedthat though daily bread be allotted, yet it is so conditionallyupon using means to acquire it, and although calamity bepredestined, yet it is right to secure oneself against theportals by which it may have access." Lastly, not a few doctorsof Law and Religion hold that Kaza al-Muhkam, however absolute,regards only man's after or final state; and upon this subjectthey are of course as wise as other people, and--no wiser. Lanehas treated the Moslem faith in Destiny very ably and fully(Arabian Nights, vol. i. pp. 58-61), and he being a man ofmoderate and orthodox views gives valuable testimony.

[FN#129] Arab. "Shaykh al-Hujjáj." Some Santon like Hasan al-Marábit, then invoked by the Meccan pilgrims: see Pilgrimage, i.321. It can hardly refer to the famous Hajjáj bin Yúsuf al-Sakafí(vol. iv. 3).

[FN#130] Here the Stories of the Sixteen Constables abruptly end,after the fashion of the Bresl. Edit. They are summarilydismissed even without the normal "Bakhshísh."

[FN#132] Mr. Payne proposes to translate "'Anbar" by amber, thesemi-fossilised resin much used in modern days, especially inTurkey and Somaliland, for bead necklaces. But, as he says, thesecond line distinctly alludes to the perfume which is sewn inleather and hung about the neck, after the fashion of our ancientpomanders (pomme d' ambre).

[FN#136] The elder brother of Ja'afar, by no means so genial orfitted for a royal frolic. See Terminal Essay.

[FN#137] Ibn Habíb, a friend of Isaac, and a learned grammarianwho lectured at Basrah.

[FN#138] A suburb of Baghdad, mentioned by Al Mas'údi.

[FN#139] Containing the rooms in which the girl or girls weresold. See Pilgrimage i. 87.

[FN#140] Dozy quotes this passage but cannot explain the wordFawwák.

[FN#141] "A passage has apparently dropped out here. The Khalifseems to have gone away without buying, leaving Ishak behind,whereupon the latter was accosted by another slave-girl, who cameout of a cell in the corridor." So says Mr. Payne. vol. ii. 207.The "raiser of the veil" means a fitting purchaser.

[FN#142] i.e. "Choice gift of the Fools," a skit upon the girl'sname "Tohfat al-Kulúb"=Choice gift of the Hearts. Her follyconsisted in refusing to be sold at a high price, and this isoften seen in real life. It is a Pundonor amongst good Moslemsnot to buy a girl and not to sleep with her, even when bought,against her will.

[FN#145] Arab. "Akwŕ min dahni 'l-lanz." These unguents have beenused in the East from time immemorial whilst the last generationin England knew nothing of anointing with oil for incipientconsumption. A late friend of mine, Dr. Stocks of the BombayEstablishment, and I proposed it as long back as 1845; but inthose days it was a far cry from Sind to London.

[FN#154] i.e. a choice gift. The Caliph speaks half ironically."Where's this wonderful present etc?" So further on when hecompares her with the morning.

[FN#155] Again the usual pun upon the name.

[FN#156] Throughout the East this is the action of a servant or aslave, practised by freemen only when in danger of life orextreme need an i therefore humiliating.

[FN#157] It had been thrown down from the Mamrak or small domebuilt over such pavilions for the purpose of light by day andventilation by night. See vol. i. 257, where it is called by thePersian term "Badhánj."

[FN#158] The Nights have more than once applied this patronymicto Zubaydah. See vol. viii. 56, 158.

[FN#159] Arab. "Mutahaddisín"=novi homines, upstarts.

[FN#160] i.e.. thine auspicious visits.

[FN#161] He being seated on the carpet at the time.

[FN#162] A quotation from Al-Farazdat who had quarrelled with hiswife Al-Howár (see the tale in Ibn Khallikan, i. 521), hence "thenaked intercessor" became proverbial for one who cannot bewithstood.

[FN#163] i.e. Choice Gift of the Breasts, that is of hearts, thecontinens for the contentum.

[FN#164] Pron. "Abuttawáif," the Father of the (Jinn-)tribes. Itis one of the Moslem Satan's manifold names, alluding to thenumber of his servants and worshippers, so far agreeing with thatamiable Christian doctrine, "Few shall be saved."

[FN#165] Mr. Payne supplies this last clause from the sequence.

[FN#166] i.e. "Let us go," with a euphemistic formula to defendher from evil influences. Iblis uses the same word to prevent herbeing frightened.

[FN#167] Arab. "Al-Mustaráh," a favourite haunting place of theJinn, like the Hammám and other offices for human impurity. Forits six names Al-Khalá, Al-Hushsh, Al-Mutawazzá, Al-Kaníf,Al-Mustaráh, and Mirház, see Al-Mas'udi, chap. cxxvii., andShiríshi's commentary to Hariri's 47, Assembly.

[FN#168] Which, in the East, is high and prominent whilst thecantle forms a back to the seat and the rider sits as in a baby'schair. The object is a firm seat when fighting: "across country"it is exceedingly dangerous.

[FN#169] In Swedenborg's "Arcane Cślestia" we read, "When man'sinner sight is opened which is that of kits spirit; then thereappear the things of another life which cannot be made visible tothe bodily sight." Also "Evil spirits, when seen by eyes otherthan those of their infernal associates, present themselves bycorrespondence in the beast (fera) which represents theirparticular lust and life, in aspect direful and atrocious." Theseare the Jinns of Northern Europe.

[FN#173] I need hardly note the inscriptions upon the metal trayssold to Europeans. They are usually imitation words so thatinfidel eyes may not look upon the formulć of prayer; and thesame is the case with table-cloths, etc., showing a fancy Tohgraor Sultanic sign-manual.

[FN#174] i.e.. I cannot look at them long.

[FN#175] Evidently a diabolical way of clapping his hands inapplause. This description of the Foul Fiend has an element ofgrotesqueness which is rather Christian than Moslem.

[FN#176] Arab. "Rikkí al-Saut," which may also mean either "lowerthy voice," or "change the air to one less touching."

[FN#177] "Your" for "thy."

[FN#178] i.e. written on the "Guarded Tablet" from all eternity.

[FN#179] Arab. "Al-'Urs wa'al Tubúr" which can only mean, 'thewedding (which does not drop out of the tale) and thecircumcision."

[FN#180] I here propose to consider at some length this curiouscustom which has prevailed amongst so many widely separatedraces. Its object has been noted (vol. v. 209), viz. to diminishthe sensibility of the glans, no longer lubricated with prostaticlymph; thus the part is hardened against injury and disease andits work in coition is prolonged. On the other hand, "prćputiumin coitu voluptatem (of the woman) auget, unde femina prćputiatisconcubitum malunt quam cum Turcis ac Judćis " says Dimerbroeck(Anatomic). I vehemently doubt the fact. Circumcision wasdoubtless practised from ages immemorial by the peoples ofCentral Africa, and Welcker found traces of it in a mummy of thexvith century B.C. The Jews borrowed it from the Egyptianpriesthood and made it a manner of sacrament, "uncircumcised"being="unbaptised," that is, barbarian, heretic; it was a seal ofreconciliation, a sign of alliance between the Creator and theChosen People, a token of nationality imposed upon the bodypolitic. Thus it became a cruel and odious protestation againstthe brotherhood of man, and the cosmopolitan Romans derided theverpć ac verpi. The Jews also used the term figuratively as the"circumcision of fruits" (Lev. xix. 23), and of the heart (Deut.x. 16), and the old law gives copious historical details of itsorigin and continuance. Abraham first amputated his horny"calotte" at aet. 99, and did the same for his son and household(Gen. xvii. 24-27). The rite caused a separation between Mosesand his wife (Exod. iv. 25). It was suspended during the DesertWanderings and was resumed by Joshua (v. 3-7), who cut off twotons' weight of prepuces. The latter became, like the scalps ofthe Scythians and the North-American "Indians" trophies ofvictory; Saul promised his daughter Michol to David for a dowryof one hundred, and the son-in-law brought double tale.

Amongst the early Christians opinions concerning the ritediffered. Although the Founder of Christianity was circumcised,St. Paul, who aimed at a cosmopolitan faith discouraged it in thephysical phase. St. Augustine still sustained that the riteremoved original sin despite the Fathers who preceded andfollowed him, Justus, Tertullian, Ambrose and others. But itgradually lapsed into desuetude and was preserved only in theoutlying regions. Paulus Jovius and Munster found it practised inAbyssinia, but as a mark of nobility confined to the descendantsof "Nicaules, queen of Sheba." The Abyssinians still follow theJews in performing the rite within eight days after the birth andbaptise boys after forty and girls after eighty days. When acircumcised man became a Jew he was bled before three witnessesat the place where the prepuce had been cut off and this wascalled the "Blood of alliance." Apostate Jews effaced the sing ofcircumcision: so in 1 Matt. i. 16, fecerunt sibi prćputia etrecesserunt a Testamento Sancto. Thus making prepuces was calledby the Hebrews Meshookim=recutitis, and there is an allusion toit in 1 Cor. vii. 18, 19, {Greek} (Farrar, Paul ii. 70). St.Jerome and others deny the possibility; but Mirabeau (Akropodie)relates how Father Conning by liniments of oil, suspendingweights, and wearing the virga in a box gained in 43 days 7Ľlines. The process is still practiced by Armenians and otherChristians who, compelled to Islamise, wish to return toChristianity. I cannot however find a similar artifice applied toa circumcised clitoris. The simplest form of circumcision is mereamputation of the prepuce and I have noted (vol. v. 209) thedifference between the Moslem and the Jewish rite, the latteraccording to some being supposed to heal in kindlier way. But thevarieties of circumcision are immense. Probably none is moreterrible than that practiced in the Province Al-Asír, the oldOphir, Iying south of Al-Hijáz, where it is called Salkh,lit.=scarification The patient, usually from ten to twelve yearsold, is placed upon raised ground holding m right hand a spear,whose heel rests upon his foot and whose point shows everytremour of the nerves. The tribe stands about him to passjudgment on his fortitude and the barber performs the operationwith the Jumbiyah-dagger, sharp as a razor. First he makes ashallow cut, severing only the skin across the belly immediatelybelow the navel, and similar incisions down each groin; then hetears off the epidermis from the cuts downwards and flays thetesticles and the penis, ending with amputation of the foreskin.Meanwhile the spear must not tremble and in some clans the ladholds a dagger over the back of the stooping barber, crying, "Cutand fear not!" When the ordeal is over, he exclaims, "AllahoAkbar!" and attempts to walk towards the tents soon falling forpain and nervous exhaustion, but the more steps he takes the moreapplause he gains. He is dieted with camel's milk, the wound istreated with salt and turmeric, and the chances in his favour areabout ten to one. No body-pile or pecten ever grows upon theexcoriated part which preserves through life a livid ashen hue.Whilst Mohammed Ali Pasha occupied the province he forbade"scarification" under pain of impalement, but it was resumed themoment he left Al-Asir. In Africa not only is circumcisionindigenous, the operation varies more or less in the differenttribes. In Dahome it is termed Addagwibi, and is performedbetween the twelfth and twentieth year. The rough operation ismade peculiar by a double cut above and below; the prepuce beingtreated in the Moslem, not the Jewish fashion (loc. cit.). Heatedsand is applied as a styptic and the patient is dieted withginger-soup and warm drinks of ginger-water, pork beingespecially forbidden. The Fantis of the Gold Coast circumcise insacred places, e.g., at Accra on a Fetish rock rising from thesea The peoples of Sennaar, Taka, Masawwah and the adjacentregions follow the Abyssinian custom. The barbarous Bissagos andFellups of North Western Guinea make cuts on the prepuce withoutamputating it; while the Baquens and Papels circumcise likeMoslems. The blacks of Loango are all "verpć," otherwise theywould be rejected by the women. The Bantu or Caffre tribes arecircumcised between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, the "Fetishboys," as we call them, are chalked white and wear only grassbelts; they live outside the villages in special houses under anold "medicine-man," who teaches them not only virile arts butalso to rob and fight. The "man-making" may last five months andends in fętes and dances: the patients are washed in the river,they burn down their quarters, take new names, and become adults,donning a kind of straw thimble over the prepuce. In Madagascarthree several cuts are made causing much suffering to thechildren, and the nearest male relative swallows the prepuce. ThePolynesians circumcise when childhood ends and thus consecratethe fecundating organ to the Deity. In Tahiti the operation isperformed by the priest, and in Tonga only the priest is exempt.The Maories on the other hand, fasten the prepuce over the glans,and the women of the Marquesas Islands have shown great crueltyto shipwrecked sailors who expose the glans. Almost all the knownAustralian tribes circumcise after some fashion: Bennett supposesthe rite to have been borrowed from the Malays, while Gasonenumerates the "Kurrawellie wonkauna among the five mutilationsof puberty. Leichhardt found circumcision about the Gulf ofCarpentaria and in the river-valleys of the Robinson andMacarthur: others observed it on the Southern Coast a nd amongthe savages of Perth, where it is noticed by Salvado. JamesDawson tells us "Circumciduntur pueri," etc., in WesternVictoria. Brough Smyth, who supposes the object is to limitpopulation (?), describes on the Western Coast and in CentralAustralia the "Corrobery"-dance and the operation performed witha quartz-flake. Teichelmann details the rite in SouthernAustralia where the assistants--all men, women, and childrenbeing driven away--form a "manner of human altar" upon which theyouth is laid for circumcision. He then receives the normal twonames, public and secret, and is initiated into the mysteriesproper for men. The Australians also for Malthusian reasonsproduce an artificial hypospadias, while the Karens of New Guineaonly split the prepuce longitudinally (Cosmos p. 369, Oct. 1876);the indigens of Port Lincoln on the West Coast split the virga:--Fenditur usque ad urethram a parse infera penis between the agesof twelve and fourteen, says E. J. Eyre in 1845. MissionarySchurmann declares that they open the urethra. Gason describes inthe Dieyerie tribe the operation 'Kulpi" which is performed whenthe beard is long enough for tying. The member is placed upon aslab of tree-bark, the urethra is incised with a quartz-flakemounted in a gum handle and a splinter of bark is inserted tokeep the cut open. These men may appear naked before women whoexpect others to clothe themselves. Miklucho Maclay calls it"Mike" in Central Australia: he was told by a squatter that ofthree hundred men only three or four had the member intact inorder to get children, and that in one tribe the female birthsgreatly outnumbered the male. Those mutilated also marry: whenmaking water they sit like women slightly raising the penis, thisin coition becomes flat and broad and the semen does not enterthe matrix. The explorer believes that the deed of kind is morequickly done (?). Circumcision was also known to the New World.Herrera relates that certain Mexicans cut off the ears andprepuce of the newly born child, causing many to die. The Jewsdid not adopt the female circumcision of Egypt described by Hueton Origen--"Circumcisio feminarum fit resectione (siveclitoridis) quć pars in Australium mulieribus ita crescit utferro est coërcenda." Here we have the normal confusion betweenexcision of the nymphć (usually for fibulation) and circumcisionof the clitoris. Bruce notices this clitoridectomy among theAybssinians. Werne describes the excision on the Upper White Nileand I have noted the complicated operation among the Somalitribes. Girls in Dahome are circumcised by ancient sages femmes,and a woman in the natural state would be derided by every one(See my Mission to Dahome, ii. 159) The Australians cut out theclitoris, and as I have noted elsewhere extirpate the ovary forMalthusian purposes (Journ Anthrop. Inst., vol. viii. of 1884).

[FN#181] Arab. "Kayrawán" which is still the common name forcurlew, the peewit and plover being called (onomatopoetically)"Bibat" and in Marocco Yahúdi, certain impious Jews having beenturned into the Vanellus Cristatus which still wears the blackskullcap of the

[FN#182] Arab. "Sawáki," the leats which irrigate the ground andare opened and closed with

[FN#183] The eighth (in altitude) of the many-storied Heavens.

[FN#184] Arab. "Ihramat li al-Salát,"i.e., she pronounced theformula of Intention (Niyat) with out which prayer is not valid,ending with Allaho Akbar--Allah is All-great. Thus she hadclothed herself, as it were, in prayer and had retired from theworld pro temp.

[FN#185] i.e.. the prayers of the last day and night which shehad neglected while in company with the Jinns. The Hammam is nota pure place to pray in; but the Farz or Koranic orisons shouldbe recited there if the legal term be hard upon its end.

[FN#186] Slaves, male as well as female, are as fond of talkingover their sale as European dames enjoy looking back upon thedetails of courtship and marriage.

[FN#187] Arab. "Du'á,"=supplication, prayer, as opposed to'Salát"=divine worship, "prayers" For the technical meaning ofthe latter see vol. iv. 65. I have objected to Mr. Redhouse'sdistinction without a difference between Moslem's worship andprayer: voluntary prayers: are not prohibited to them and theirpraises of the Lord are mingled, as amongst all worshippers, withpetitions.

[FN#192] She made the Ghusl not because she had slept with a man,but because the impurity of Satan's presence called for the majorablution before prayer.

[FN#193] i.e. she conjoined the prayers of nightfall with thoseof dawn.

[FN#194] i.e.. Those of midday, mid-afternoon and sunset.

[FN#195] Arab. "Sahbá" red wine preferred for the morningdraught.

[FN#196] The Apostle who delighted in women and perfumes. Persianpoetry often alludes to the rose which, before white, was dyedred by his sweat.

[FN#197] For the etymology of Julnár--Byron's "Gulnare"--see vol.vii. 268. Here the rhymer seems to refer to its origin; Gul(Arab. Jul) in Persian a rose; and Anár, a pomegranate, which inArabic becomes Nár=fire.

[FN#198] i.e. "The brilliant," the enlightened.

[FN#199] i.e.. the moral beauty.

[FN#200] A phenomenon well known to spiritualists and to "TheHouse and the Haunter." An old Dutch factory near Hungarian Fiumeis famed for this mode of "obsession" the inmates hear the soundof footfalls, etc., behind them, especially upon the stairs; andsee nothing.

[FN#201] The two short Koranic chapters, The Daybreak (cxiii.)and The Men (cxiv. and last) evidently so called from the wordswhich occur in both (versets i., "I take refuge with"). These"Ma'úzatáni," as they are called, are recited as talismans orpreventives against evil, and are worn as amulets inscribed onparchment; they are also often used in the five canonicalprayers. I have translated them in vol. iii. 222.

[FN#202] The artistes or fugleman at prayer who leads off theorisons of the congregation; and applied to the Caliph as thehead of the faith. See vol. ii. 203 and iv. 111.

[FN#203] Arab. " 'Ummár" i.e. the Jinn, the "spiritual creatures"which walk this earth, and other non-humans who occupy it.

[FN#204] A parallel to this bodiless Head is the Giant Face,which appears to travellers (who expect it) in the Lower Valleyof the Indus. See Sind Re-visited, ii. 155.

[FN#205] Arab. "Ghalílí"=my yearning.

[FN#206] Arab. "Ahbábu-ná" plur. for singular=my beloved.

[FN#207] i.e. her return.

[FN#208] Arab. "Arja'" lit. return! but here meaning to stop. Itis much used by donkey-boys from Cairo to Fez in the sense of"Get out of the way." Hence the Spanish arre! which gave rise toarriero=a carrier, a muleteer.

[FN#209] Arab. "Afras" lit.=a better horseman.

[FN#210] A somewhat crippled quotation from Koran lvi. 87-88, "Asfor him who is of those brought near unto Allah, there shall befor him easance and basil and a Garden of Delights (Na'ím)."

[FN#211] i.e. Queen Sunbeam.

[FN#212] See vol. i. 310 for this compound perfume which containsmusk, ambergris and other essences.

[FN#213] I can hardly see the sequence of this or what thecarpets have to do here.

[FN#216] Or "And in this there shall be to thee great honour overall the Jinn."

[FN#217] Mr. Payne thus amends the text, "How loathly is yonderGenie Meimoun! There is no eating (in his presence);" referringback to p. 61.

[FN#218] i.e. "I cannot bear to see him!"

[FN#219] This assertion of dignity, which is permissible inroyalty, has been absurdly affected by certain "dames" inAnglo-Egypt who are quite the reverse of queenly; and who degrade"dignity" to the vulgarest affectation.

[FN#220] i.e. "May thy visits never fail me!"

[FN#221] i.e. Ash-coloured, verging upon white.

[FN#222] i.e. "She will double thy store of presents."

[FN#223] The Arab boy who, unlike the Jew, is circumcised longafter infancy and often in his teens, thus making the ceremonyconform after a fashion with our "Confirmation," is displayedbefore being operated upon, to family and friends; and the seatis a couch covered with the richest tapestry. So far it resemblesthe bride-throne.

[FN#224] Tohfah.

[FN#225] i.e. Hindu, Indian.

[FN#226] Japhet, son of Noah.

[FN#227] Mr. Payne translates "Take this and glorify thyselfwithal over the people of the world." His reading certainly makesbetter sense, but I do not see how the text can carry themeaning. He also omits the bussing of the bosom, probably forartistic reasons.

[FN#228] A skit at Ishák, making the Devil praise him. See vol.vii. 113.

[FN#247] Showing the antiquity of "Aprčs moi le déluge," the fameof all old politicians and aged statesmen who can expect but afew years of life. These "burning questions" (e.g. the Bulgarian)may be smothered for a time, but the result is that they blazeforth with increased violence. We have to thank Lord Palmerston(an Irish landlord) for ignoring the growth of Fenianism andanother aged statesman for a sturdy attempt to disunite theUnited Kingdom. An old nation wants young blood at its head.

[FN#248] Suggesting the nursery rhyme:

Fee, fo, fum I smell the blood of an Englishman.

[FN#249] i.e. why not at once make an end of her.

[FN#250] The well-known war-cry.

[FN#251] Lit. "Smoke" pop. applied, like our word, to tobacco.The latter, however, is not here meant.

[FN#252] Arab. "Ghuráb al-bayn," of the wold or of parting. Seevol. vii. 226.

[FN#253] Arab. "Haláwah"; see vol. iv. 60.

[FN#254] Here the vocative particle "Yá" is omitted.

[FN#255] Lit. "The long-necked (bird)" before noticed with theRukh (Roc) in vol. v. 122. Here it becomes a Princess, daughterof Bahrám-i-Gúr (Bahram of the Onager, his favourite game), thefamous Persian king in the fifth century, a contemporary ofTheodosius the younger and Honorius. The "Anká" is evidently theIranian Símurgh.

[FN#256] "Chamber" is becoming a dangerous word in English. Roarsof laughter from the gods greeted the great actor's declamation,"The bed has not been slept in! Her little chamber is empty!"

[FN#257] Choice Gift of the breast (or heart).

[FN#258] From the Calc. Edit. (1814–18), Nights cxcvi.–cc., vol.ii., pp. 367–378. The translation has been compared and collatedwith that of Langlčs (Paris, 1814), appended to his Edition ofthe Voyages of Sindbad. The story is exceedingly clever and welldeserves translation.

[FN#259] It is regretable that this formula has not beenpreserved throughout The Nights: it affords, I have noticed, apleasing break to the long course of narrative.

[FN#260] Arab. "Banát-al-hawá" lit. daughters of love, usuallymeaning an Anonyma, a fille de joie; but here the girl is of goodrepute, and the offensive term must be modified to a gay,frolicsome lass.

[FN#261] Arab. "Jabhat," the lintel opposed to the threshold.

[FN#262] Arab. "Ghattí," still the popular term said to a childshowing its nakedness, or a lady of pleasure who insults a man bydisplaying any part of her person.

[FN#263] She is compared with a flashing blade (her face) nowdrawn from its sheath (her hair) then hidden by it.

[FN#264] The "Muajjalah" or money paid down before consummationwas about Ł25; and the "Mu'ajjalah" or coin to be paid contingenton divorce was about Ł75. In the Calc. Edit ii. 371, both dowersare Ł35.

[FN#265] All the blemishes which justify returning a slave to theslave-dealer.

[FN#266] Media: see vol. ii. 94. The "Daylamite prison" was oneof many in Baghdad.

[FN#267] See vol. v. 199. I may remark that the practice ofbathing after copulation was kept up by both sexes in ancientRome. The custom may have originated in days when human senseswere more acute. I have seen an Arab horse object to be mountedby the master when the latter had not washed after sleeping witha woman.

[FN#268] On the morning after a happy night the bridegroom stilloffers coffee and Halwá to friends.

[FN#274] i.e. than a Jew or a Christian. So the Sultan, whenappealed to by these religionists, who were as usual squabblingand fighting, answered, "What matter if the dog tear the hog orthe hog tear the dog"?

[FN#275] The "Sharí'at" forbidding divorce by force.

[FN#276] i.e. protect my honour.

[FN#277] For this proverb see vol. v. 138. 1 have remarked that"Shame" is not a passion in Europe as in the East; the Westernequivalent to the Arab. "Hayá' 'would be the Latin "Pudor."

[FN#302] 'Urkúb, a Jew of Yathrib or Khaybar, immortalised in theA.P. (i. 454) as "more promise-breaking than 'Urkúb."

[FN#303] Uncle of Mohammed. See vol. viii. 172.

[FN#304] First cousin of Mohammed. See ib.

[FN#305] This threat of "'Orf with her 'ead" shows the Caliph'slordliness.

[FN#306] Arab. "Al-Bashkhánah."

[FN#307] i.e. Amen. See vol. ix. 131.

[FN#308] When asked, on Doomsday, his justification for havingslain her.

[FN#309] Khorasan which included our Afghanistan, turbulent thenas now, was in a chronic state of rebellion during the latterpart of Al-Rashid's reign.

[FN#310] The brutality of a Moslem mob on such occasions isphenomenal: no fellow-feeling makes them decently kind. And so atexecutions even women will take an active part in insulting andtormenting the criminal, tearing his hair, spitting in his faceand so forth. It is the instinctive brutality with which wildbeasts and birds tear to pieces a wounded companion.

[FN#311] The popular way of stopping hemorrhage by plunging thestump into burning oil which continued even in Europe tillAmbrose Paré taught men to take up the arteries.

[FN#312] i.e. folk of good family.

[FN#313] i.e. the result of thy fervent prayers to Allah for me.

[FN#314] Arab. "Al-Abárík" plur. of lbrik, an ewer containingwater for the Wuzu-ablution. I have already explained that aMoslem wishing to be ceremonially pure, cannot wash as Europeansdo, in a basin whose contents are fouled by the first touch.

[FN#316] Arab. "Burka'," the face veil of Egypt, Syria, andArabia with two holes for the eyes, and the end hanging to thewaist, a great contrast with the "Lithám or coquettish fold oftransparent muslin affected by modest women in Stambul.

[FN#317] i.e. donned petticoat-trousers and walking boots otherthan those she was wont to wear.